Psychosocial group interventions to improve psychological well-being in adults living with HIV

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Ingrid van der Heijden1, Naeemah Abrahams1, David Sinclair2

1. Medical Research Council, Gender and Health Unit, Tygerberg, Western Cape, South Africa
2. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool, UK

van der Heijden I, Abrahams N, Sinclair D. Psychosocial group interventions to improve psychological well-being in adults living with HIV. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD010806. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010806.pub2

Access the full-text article here: DOI/10.1002/14651858.CD010806.pub2

Does group therapy improve well-being in people living with HIV?

Cochrane researchers conducted a review of the effects of group therapy for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). After searching for relevant trials up to 14 March 2016, they included 16 trials reported in 19 articles that enrolled 2520 adults living with HIV. The included trials were conducted in the USA (12 trials), Canada (one trial), Switzerland (one trial), Uganda (one trial), and South Africa (one trial), and published between 1996 and 2016. Ten trials recruited men and women, four trials recruited homosexual men, and two trials recruited women only.

What is group therapy and how might if benefit people with HIV?

Group therapy aims to improve the well-being of individuals by delivering psychological therapy in a group format, which can encourage the development of peer support and social networks. Group therapy often also incorporates training in relaxation techniques and coping skills, and education on the illness and its management.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes a chronic, life threatening, and often stigmatising disease, which can impact on a person's well-being. Group therapy could help people living with HIV to adapt to knowing they have HIV, or recover from depression, anxiety, and stress.

What the research says

Group-based therapy based on cognitive behavioural therapy may have a small effect on measures of depression, and this effect may last for up to 15 months after participation in the group sessions (low certainty evidence). This effect was apparent in groups who did not appear to be depressed on clinical scoring systems before the therapy started. The research also showed there may be little or no effect on measures of anxiety, stress, and coping (low certainty evidence).

Group-based interventions based on mindfulness have been studied in two small trials, and have not demonstrated effects on measures of depression, anxiety or stress (all very low certainty evidence). No mindfulness based interventions included in the studies had any valid measurements of coping.

Overall, the review suggests that existing interventions have little to no effect in increasing psychological adjustment to living with HIV. More good quality studies are required to inform good practice and evidence.